'It Will Never Stop': Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Reacts to Coach Brian Flores NFL Racism Lawsuit
MOBILE, Ala. — "We can do better.''
Observers of the Brian Flores lawsuit on the NFL's allegedly racist hiring practices, and especially critics of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, must be feeling their heads spinning right now.
Did Jones just acknowledge that Flores might have a point about the league's hiring practices when it comes to diversity?
“I can see it’s an area, one of many, that we can do better,'' Jones told USA Today on Wednesday at Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala. “The area has some good attention. This is obvious if you look through that that the league and coaches are trying to improve there.”
Flores, who is Black, was recently fired after three seasons as Dolphins head coach, and then entered the interview process for other head-coaching vacancies that, in a 58-page lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, asserts that the process is a discriminatory "sham'' propped up by league practices that are reminiscent of a "plantation'' mentality.
The lawsuit is against the league (which means all 32 teams) and against three clubs in particular, including the New York Giants, who he claims conducted a rigged search in which then-Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was predetermined to be the winner.
Jones said he did not “have anything to say about how any other team goes about its interview or goes about its process.'' But even in the wake of the lawsuit, he seems to believe the conversation is a productive one.
“I think the fact that it’s an issue shows not only the league’s willingness to address and do better,” Jones said. “I think the fact that it’s being discussed as to how the Rooney Rule or what drives the Rooney Rule could be better. In the case of coach Flores’ complaint, he’s saying it could be better and the processes create positive result for the league.”
Added Jones: “We’re a league of many boxes, of all kinds, in many, many areas,” Jones said. “I never dreamed we could check as many boxes as we can check. But the more we become substantive – and we’re a lot more substantive as a league and as a sport than we ever were when I got involved 30-something years ago – and we’re more pertinent and more germane than we were 10 years ago. The more that happens, the more boxes we’re going to have come up that we need to check.
“As long as this league is continuing to be the influence that we are, by the interest in the game, by continuing to try to improve over time, the list of boxes we’ll need to address will get bigger.''
The effort for equity is a worthy one. While there are many who will argue "both sides'' there, that seems inarguable. Jones seems to agree with that.
“We’re going to do a good job on some (issues) and have work to do on others,” Jones said. “It will never stop. (The effort) will really never stop.”
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